Don't want to encourage 'aggressive force' by weakening institutions: Zardari

Published December 16, 2018
Asif Ali Zardari speaking in Hyderabad on Sunday. — DawnNewsTV
Asif Ali Zardari speaking in Hyderabad on Sunday. — DawnNewsTV

A day after former president Asif Zardari railed against 'unnamed powers', the PPP leader in a press conference in Hyderabad on Sunday said that his party does not want institutions to be weakened because "there is another aggressive force".

Zardari said that the party had accepted Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's death and didn't fight against it because it did not want institutions to be weakened.

"We still don't want them to be weakened," he asserted, describing the 'force' as one that possesses a "passionate ideology (junooni soch)".

"We don't wish to encourage it," he said.

"That is why we always give [them] leverage and space," the PPP leader said, adding: "They have the wrong impression that we give them space because we are fearful or wish to take power away from them."

"We only want neutrality from them. We can take power on our own."

When asked about the 18th Amendment, the former president said that the current government was one of "imbeciles" who lacked understanding.

He explained that the amendment had given each province a greater share and added that if the provinces are together, they will be strong and then Pakistan will be strong.

A day earlier, the former president, in a thinly veiled reference to the military establishment, said that those who have a fixed service tenure of three years have no right to take decisions about the future of the country.

Saturday’s speech came as a reminder to a similarly aggressive speech by Zardari in Islamabad on June 16, 2015 in which his intended audience was the then military establishment. He had lashed out against "the character assassination of his party" and warned the military leadership that if they did not stop, he would expose the misdeeds of many generals.

Zardari reiterated his stance about those having a "three-year tenure" and, in the same breath but without taking any names, appeared to speak critically about the visits to different places by the chief justice.

"[Why do you] keep visiting different places and question things [...] what does it have to do with you? [Bhai aap ka wasta kia hai] [...] 900,000 cases are pending in the entire judicial system [...] you should look into those," he said.

Zardari took a swipe at the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government at the centre and said that only a party of the masses could understand the people’s demand and not "the puppets".

Opinion

Editorial

Afghan turbulence
Updated 19 Mar, 2024

Afghan turbulence

RELATIONS between the newly formed government and Afghanistan’s de facto Taliban rulers have begun on an...
In disarray
19 Mar, 2024

In disarray

IT is clear that there is some bad blood within the PTI’s ranks. Ever since the PTI lost a key battle over ...
Festering wound
19 Mar, 2024

Festering wound

PROTESTS unfolded once more in Gwadar, this time against the alleged enforced disappearances of two young men, who...
Defining extremism
Updated 18 Mar, 2024

Defining extremism

Redefining extremism may well be the first step to clamping down on advocacy for Palestine.
Climate in focus
18 Mar, 2024

Climate in focus

IN a welcome order by the Supreme Court, the new government has been tasked with providing a report on actions taken...
Growing rabies concern
18 Mar, 2024

Growing rabies concern

DOG-BITE is an old problem in Pakistan. Amid a surfeit of public health challenges, rabies now seems poised to ...